The Baatho-Assadist System, a System of Political Instrumentalisation

Various studies on political instrumentalisation show its application in several areas as an element of political recovery of all forms of protest in favour of power. In this context, this study analyses the different facades of the political instrumentalisation of the Syrian political system. The instrumentalisation of civil society, the instrumentalisation of education, the instrumentalisation of Syrian constitution, the instrumentalisation of secularism and religions, the instrumentalisation of opposition, the instrumentalisation of the Palestini-an-Israeli conflict and Arab nationalism, the instrumentalisation of media and the instrumentalisation of culture and of space and cities have been analysed. Syria is considered to be a country subject to a single party that monopolises political activity within the state the Baath Party, the only political party standing for election, and the only one governing the country continuously since 1963; all the elements analysed in this study show that instrumentalisation is a fundamental method of the Syrian political system. It is used systematically and methodically.


Introduction
Instrumentalisation as defined by Marc Uhalde, a sociology researcher, is the diversion of a process or object towards purposes other than those initially conceived, an illegitimate diversion with regard to the values or normative conceptions implicit in the process (Uhalde, 2008). This diversion leads to a political recovery of all forms of protest in favour of power, according to John D. H.
Downing, a communications specialist; it is a subversive plagiarism that diverts language and images from their intended use (Downing, 2000). ethnicity (Faye, 1994).
In this context, this study analyses the different facades of the political instrumentalisation of the Syrian political system. Syria is considered a country subject to a single party that monopolises political activity within the state, the Baath Party, the only political party standing for election, and the only one governing the country continuously since 1963. A constitutional amendment in 1973 gave the Baath Party exceptional status as a "party leading the state and society" in Syria until the introduction of the new Syrian constitution in February 2012 (Belhadj, 2014). The Assad regime is considered to be a minority regime, as described by Fabrice Balanche, adjoint professor of political geography and director of research, as "being a sect in power" (Balanche, 2006) because the military coup of 1963 was the initiative of a group of officers who belong mainly to religious minorities (Alawites, Druze, Ismaili and Christians). However, a few years later, the Alawites expelled the other minority groups from key positions, and in 1970, Hafez al-Assad's military coup was carried out on an Alawite community basis with his clan. He eliminated the founders of the Baath Party, and transformed the party into a tool to conquer power and dominate the institutions of state.
The leaders of the Baath Party (14 members in total) are the highest officials in Syria, led by Hafez al-Assad at the head of the state and the Baath Party until his death in 2000 when Bashar al-Assad Hafez's son inherited power and the Baath Party from his father.
During these five decades, the Assad clan "instrumentalised" the Baath Party and the army in order to perpetuate their power. They were placed in all the key positions across the country, locking the system down with a highly effective intelligence network, according to the study by geographer Michael F. Davie (Davie, 2006). The Baath Party instrumentalised by the Assad clan uses the same logic of instrumentalisation to dominate Syria, over the control of the population by the party's organisations and by its propaganda.
A number of arguments may explain the way in which the Baath Party instrumentalises state institutions, civil society, ethnic groups and religions, space and territories, as well as a series of social, political and economic processes to

The Instrumentalisation of Civil Society
Nazih Ayubi, a political scientist and professor at the University of Exeter, described the Baath system as a corporatist system, because Syria, dominated by the Baath Party, exemplifies a model of "state-centred corporatism". This single party has, since 1963, succeeded in dominating civil society through the formation or takeover of unions, professional and sectoral associations affiliated to the Baath (Ayubi, 1996).

The Pioneers of the Baath Party
Talaaee Al Baath, The Baath Vanguards, is a Syrian government organisation founded in 1974 by Hafez al-Assad, which brings together Syrian children aged between 6 and 11 years old from elementary schools, and which has dominated all extracurricular activities, leisure centres and sports competitions for Syrian school children since its establishment. Membership of this organisation is mandatory, parents are not asked for their opinion, because all students are considered pioneers of the Baath Party under this political system.

The Revolutionary Youth Union
The Revolutionary Youth Union is a Syrian governmental organisation founded in 1970 by Hafez al-Assad, based on the ideology of the Baath Party, to shape the youth of Syria from the age of 12 to 18 years under the domination of the Baath Party. It has replaced all other associations and centres for youth, except for churches, such as the Scout Movement which the Baath regime banned in Syria upon its arrival in power.

The General Union of Syrian Women
Syrian feminist associations existed before the Baath Party came to power, and The Assad regime has gathered together the women's movement and feminist associations and created the General Union of Syrian Women to promote the ideology of Baath, and the Assad regime has allowed a feminist group to be active in Syria. This is the Al Qubeissiat group; an Islamic fundamentalism group that supports it.

The Instrumentalisation of the Syrian Constitution
The Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic, adopted by referendum on 12 March 1973

The Instrumentalisation of Secularism and Religions
The Assad Baathist regime presents itself as the guarantor of secularism in Syria and claims to be a progressive secular regime (Taha, 2012a). The fraudulent use of secularism has been demonstrated by several researchers including Zakaria Taha, in his article entitled "Le parti Baath et la dynastie al-Asad en Syrie: la laïcité dans un contexte communautaire" [The Baath Party and the al-Asad dynasty in Syria: secularism in a community context] in which he shows that secularism has been manipulated by the leaders of the Baath Party whose primary objective is to maintain power.
During the Baath-Assad period, Islam became a source of legitimacy for a non-Sunni president in his quest for legitimacy. Assad began to take steps to spread Islam, which led to a re-Islamisation of society. The Constituent Assembly accepted certain demands from Islamic circles, imposing a Muslim head of state and stating that "Islamic doctrine was the primary source of legislation".
The instrumentalisation of minorities is also mentioned in Taha's works, since the confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s, the regime has presented itself as a bulwark against the Islamist threat likely to dominate minorities (Druze, Christians, Kurds, Ismaili) (Taha, 2012b). After the revolution, Assad used these community instruments to prevent minorities from joining in the protests against it, collusion between Islamic groups and the Assad regime emerged, the Assad regime took advantage of Islamist groups and terrorism for its own purposes and with the aim of consolidating its domination over the country, spreading hatred and generating fear and mistrust (Mobaied, 2019).

The Instrumentation of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and Arab Nationalism
The goal of the Baath Party, identified by the unification of the different Arab states into a single great nation, is the ideology of Arab nationalism, Leyla Dakhli, shown in her article entitled "Arabism, Arab Nationalism and Transnational Arab Identifications in the 20th Century", published in 2009 in Vingtième Siècle.
Reviewing history, this Arab nationalism, favoured by the designation of enemies to face (the European imperialist states, the State of Israel), and by the collapse of other frames of reference (the Ottoman Empire, the Caliphate, the Mediterranean of the Levant scales, etc.), has long been frozen in authoritarian regimes that have confiscated it and made it a weapon to fight any opposition, be it communist or Islamist (Dakhli, 2009).
Since the domination of Baath in power, Assad has been the Arab leader of resistance against Israel, basing his discourse on the exogenous threat of enemies, and the feeling of being besieged by enemies, many of whom are manufactured by the propaganda of the Baath system, being, therefore, a tool for submission to power.
Based on a study entitled "Le pathos négatif en tant que trait du discours politique totalitaire" (Kacprzak, 2013)  Baathist weapon (Cimino, 2014) and has therefore served the survival of the regime.

The Instrumentalisation of Media and Culture
Ali Safar, a Syrian poet and journalist, in his testimony on the situation of intellectuals under the Baatho-Assadist regime (Alcheikh, 2018)  of barbarians: beyond the clash of civilisations], that the "Truth" is sacrificed in a totalitarian country to the struggle for victory (Todorov, 2008).

The Instrumentalisation of Space and Cities
The notion of space is a complex notion that is included in the political or institutional domain through the control of landscape as a modality for the territorialisation of dominant groups and political institutions (Debarbieux, 2007). In this context, the territorial analysis of the Syrian revolt, carried out by Fabrice Balanche (Balanche, 2011), reflects the instrumentalisation of all the spaces where society is organised by the communitarianism that structures Syrian society and the Assad regime itself. In his 2005 article entitled "La fragmentation spatiale en Syrie" [Spatial fragmentation in Syria] (Balanche, 2005) Balanche explains the imbalances in the Syrian economic space linked to pre-Baathist spatial structures, in which the peripheries are subjected to or assisted by the Baathist political structure.

Conclusion
All the elements analysed in this study show that instrumentalisation is a fundamental method of the Syrian political system. It is used systematically and methodically to incorporate and subjugate the whole of Syrian society, a process that has enabled it to remain in power for five decades and that must be clearly identified and taken into account to continue the trajectory of change in Syria. There may be also other elements that are not yet fully investigated which may explain the way in which the Baath Party dominated the state and civil society. Today, the Baath Party lost much of its authority, leadership, and support base; there is an opportunity to improve our understanding of the mechanisms used to put totalitarian philosophy into practice which has not been a conscious concern in much of this work.

Conflicts of Interest
The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.